


Wanderland

by Wibbili_Wobbly



Series: THE STRANGER FROM GALLIFREY [11]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Moon, Outer Space, Parallel Universes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 13:34:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30140337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wibbili_Wobbly/pseuds/Wibbili_Wobbly
Summary: Hundred people a day is a little price for prosperity of the entire planet. There is sonething still more important than even billions of human lives. However, for the Doctor this was never a way out.
Series: THE STRANGER FROM GALLIFREY [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1686751





	Wanderland

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Путниковая связь](https://archiveofourown.org/works/30140214) by [Wibbili_Wobbly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wibbili_Wobbly/pseuds/Wibbili_Wobbly). 



The Doctor was pressing buttons on his console, switching toggle switchers and moving sliders.  
His previous adventure with Clara had just finished and he was already heading for something new.  
The Time Lord was planning to go to the seventh galaxy. Preferably, in another time — that makes more fun.

Hearing footsteps behind, the Doctor turned around with a joyful smile and gleaming eyes.

"Get ready, Clara: you'll soon be enjoying the..." he stopped, perplexedly examining the girl. "... Sales in a furniture store? Why are you dressed like that?"

"A date. People usually go on dates like that", Clara explained but the Doctor seemed to be even more puzzled. "You've completely forgotten. I told you about my date with Danny"

"I have no opportunity to bear in mind such insignificant details"

"If your crazy friend were here, she'd definitely be joking about dementia", the girl replied offendedly. "I. Am going. On a date", she rapped out and headed to the door. "Good luck and, please, don't blow up the Earth. By the way", she added at the doorway, "you'd better check up the TARDIS. Even I start to feel there's something wrong with it"

"Now go to your beloved PE teacher", the Doctor muttered in response.

The door closed and the Time Lord was left alone with good thoughts.

"Well, I was going to tinker the TARDIS anyway, but now that you've said it, any desire is completely gone", he glanced at the monitors. "I know my old TARDIS is still living on and kicking", the Doctor smiled and pulled the lever. "To the new distant..." he didn't finish as something started happening.

The console sparked and thick smoke billowed from the main module. The TARDIS was shaking from side to side, knocking the Doctor off his feet. Panicking, he was trying to understand what was going on.

"Clara!!"

The TARDIS shook harder than usual and it took some time to calm down exhausted. The devices refused to give any signs of life and the area recognizer only displayed some vague symbols on the screen.

"Clara. I'll blame Clara for this", the Doctor decided and firmly went to the exit. He was dying to know where he had drifted after such a storm and what had caused his machine to sue that much.

***

This was London. Ordinary London, maybe, sometime in future as the buildings differed a bit from the present.  
Same streets, cars, scurrying people. But _something was clearly different_ — the Doctor could _feel_ it in his guts but neither recognise nor explain.  
The Time Lord attributed this to the aftermath of the recent shaking.

Having patted the TARDIS for the last time and promised to come back, he set off in search of any explanation.

The city was really pretty much the same as before. But something still was confusing the Doctor.

 **Metal frames** right in the middle of the streets. They looked like doorways into nowhere and, although there was no fence around, people deliberately avoided them, cringing and glancing cautiously.

"Mum, what are those things there?" asked a little boy, passing by with his mother.

"Those are **her** arches", the woman pointed somewhere up with a fearful quivering expression. "And we, dear, must _never approach them_. Come on, we'd better get out of here"

This accidentally overheard conversation sparked Doctor's curiosity even more. He remembered a lot from the history of the Earth, its past and future. But everything here seemed so **_odd_** and **_unusual_** that he decided by all means to find the answers.

The Time Lord, as if casually, approached one of the metal frames and scanned it with his sonic glasses.

" **A portal** ", he concluded. "Right in the middle of London. A portal that must never be entered. And no guard, fence or "no trespassing" sign.

Without hesitations, the Doctor took a step inside the portal.

***

The Time Lord found himself on the other side of the passage. It was a gloomy room with an oppressive atmosphere. It was hard to say whether it seemed so sinister due to the complete absence of windows, dim white lighting, the walls of iron plates or maybe just as a result of passing through the portal. Looked like all these at once.

There was no time to think about it, though: the fade light changed into red and a siren broke the deathly silence.

The Doctor closed his eyes and ears.  
A passageway opened in a wall, from where some strange humanoids leaned one by one. The alarm died out.  
The creatures, identical as if bred artificially, surrounded the intruder.

"Name. State. Intention", one of the humanoids commanded. The Doctor was about to 'politely' sneak out but he was rudely pushed away from the portal. "Name. State. Intention", the creature repeated.

" _Doctor. Doctor. Fun_ ", answered the Time Lord to all the three questions.

"Doctor? There's no one to cure"

"Lucky, then I may go?"

All the humanoids glanced at each other and began typing something on the devices on their wrists.

"Is there any chance you're just ordering pizza? Or who else you're texting so hard to? To your boss, right?"

One of the creatures glared unexpectedly sternly at the Doctor.

"Okay, that's your right. But I won't be chipping in anything"

Everyone fell silent at once. Everything was quiet in an instant. Even the nasty white lamps seemed to have stopped making their sound. There was silence as if in a vacuum.  
This tense hush was broken by a sharp **clatter of high heels** upon the iron floor and an unclear conversation. Those voices were approaching.

"...he introduced himself as the Doctor"

" _Doctor?_ I hope it's Doctor Strange, otherwise he just wasting my precious time"

A snippet of dialogue reached the Time Lord. He could distinguish a woman's voice — tired, annoyed and with a deep **American accent**. So atypical for this land; although only now did the Doctor realise that he had completely no idea where the portal had thrown him.

The sound of heels got closer; the Doctor was prepared to see absolutely anyone but not her. The Time Lord was dumbfounded as on the threshold of the room appeared... The Stranger?!  
It was her. Or at least almost her. The very same face, the very same body but seemed like a completely different personality. Now she was an arrogant business woman with high heels and American dialect.

"You kidding me? You've distracted me just to show THIS? This thing is obviously outdated", with a bit of contempt, she glanced at the Doctor. "First they recruit some imbeciles to the guard and then they can't even kick out an old beggar", the woman didn't shout but her calm and weary voice sounded still sinister enough to sow fear among her subordinates. Suddenly it dawned on her: " Alright, this is already interesting. How did you stay safe at all? Each portal is equipped with a double-heart-check system. Another question is: whatta hell are you doing on **_my Moon_**?"

"Wait, did you just say YOUR Moon? The Moon, let it be known to you, is a _public domain_. It does not belong to anyone and is in a semi-neutral territorial subordination of the Earth"

"Nah, young man, the Moon is my _private property_. I have bought it and now I possess the resulting rights of use and disposal. The Earth also belongs to me in the status of a colony. Therefore, here rather the planet and its population are subordinate to the Moon. And to my humble self", the Lady went along another dark corridor, beckoning her guest to follow her.

The Doctor still could hardly understand what was going on and why the Stranger had suddenly changed that much. Maybe, her memory had been erased? Or was it some part of her unknown past? Or, perhaps, future?

They came up to the window, which seemed to be the only one in the entire room or, maybe, even the whole building. Behind the glass, the Doctor saw the lunar surface, the starry sky and the Earth above.

"And all this", the girl indicated with a sweeping gesture, "belongs to me. It's very strange you didn't know. Everybody in the nearby galaxies knows"

The Doctor, desperately thinking, looked in the eyes of his interlocutor.  
Those _space eyes_ , no doubt, were the eyes of his old friend.

" _Stranger?_ "

"...Well, not quite. Almost. I am **the Wanderer**. And this..." she spread her arms pointing to her property, "is my **Wanderland** "

"You mean _'Wonderland'_ , right?"

"I mean exactly what I said", the Wanderer hissed. "It's no my fault your pathetic brain is incapable of understanding my sophisticated game of words"

***

"Now tell me: how did you get through the portal equipped with my double-heart-check system? This technology is the top of safety, only I can use those passages. Well, it's kinda clear with me: I'm from Gallifrey. By the way, I haven't been there for quite a time..."

" ** _Gallifrey?_** " the Doctor perked up. "But it was destroyed, lost, wasn't it?"

"Of course not, I sold it. It's a well-known fact", the Wanderer shrugged as if an act of political betrayal was indeed a common thing.

"What?! But _how_?"

"Easy procedure. The militant race of the Daleks came to my planet. Thanks to my diplomacy skill I narrowly avoided war, giving them up Gallifrey as a territorial colony"

"Together with the population? Do you even realise that you've literally sold the _entire race into slavery_ to the real Nazis?!"

"This was my very last chance to escape, and even alive. These were the terms of the contract"

"But there were _children_..."

"Children, old people, women. So what? The war was inevitable anyway. We can say that I made their life a bit easier, not allowing the global catastrophe to happen on the planet Gallifrey", the girl concluded in a heavy voice.

"But... But you couldn't have! You're _the Princess of Gallifrey_!"

"The Princess?" the Wanderer raised her eyebrows. "Well, we're not in the Middle Ages, are we? There was never such a thing as a monarchy. And I, as the **main financier** of the planet and an **intergalactic diplomat** , managed to fulfill my duty"

The Doctor looked at her either with disgust or with great disappointment and regret. Although, he understood one thing for sure: this was neither the future nor the past; it was a distorted timeline. To put it short, he had been thrown into a **_parallel universe_** , right to the world where the Stranger Qs never destined to become the ruler of Gallifrey.

There was silence. The two Time Lords were gazing at the Earth shining in the lunar firmament. Both Doctor's hearts were aching from the realisation of the fate of his home planet. However, partially this Stranger (or rather the Wanderer) was right: she had managed to prevent the War of Time.

"Right, this was a nice waste of time but I'm a busy woman — I've got a lot of work to do", the Wanderer turned away with a dexterous movement and walked quickly down the corridor.

Her agility was almost unbelievable as it was hard to even to stand on such high heels. The Doctor imagined the contempt of his barefoot Stranger watching this.  
The Time Lord desperately wanted to believe that this arrogant moon business lady still had something from his friends — he just needed to get through somehow.

"And so you just gonna leave the intruder on your base?"

"Leave? Pff, no. I have no time to tarry with you, by you'll be following me anyway, won't you? I'll later decide what to do with you", the Wanderer took an elegant device out of her pocket and used it to open the passage in the iron wall.

"Oh, you have a _sonic screwdriver_?"

"Wow, so you even know this one? A very handy thing by the way. I use it to open all kind of locks, penetrate the most protected cybersystems, maintain communication in the territory of my moon base and so much more. And also it is used to warm up..."

" _...Beer?_ " interrupted the Doctor.

"What?" the girl grimaced. " **Champagne**! Do I look like someone who drinks beer? Eww! Only exclusive luxury champagne. Would you like to purchase a couple of bottles?"

"Nope, travelling with my own one"

The Lady nodded and fell silent.  
The Doctor firmly decided that he must learn as much as possible about what remained in this Wanderer from Gallifrey and from the Stranger herself.

"So you're a Time Lady, right? I heard you had time and space machines on your planet. Well, you know, timey-wimey and stuff like that..."

"Ah, you mean the TARDIS? You're late: I've sold it already"

The Doctor stared at her. He was filed with helpless indignation at such a careless attitude towards the greatest miracle in the universe.

"What?! Access to _any point in time and space_ — and you've sold it?! And you still dare do consider yourself a successful entrepreneur! You just missed one of the most incredible wonders of the world!"

"Well, the TARDIS was indeed a valuable resource, however..."

"Just don't tell me you've sold out to the Daleks as well"

"Ok, I won't. I wasn't going to. This was a completely different kind of deal with a Mitch more advanced race"

"But... But the TARDIS is priceless! It's not for sale", the Doctor piteously drawled.

"Take my word, young man: **_everything_** _is for sale — you just have to **set the bargain price**_ "

***

The Wandered opened another passage; the Doctor followed her. This new room was much better lit. It was divided into two parts separated by a glass wall, in front of which there was an intricate console with almost identical switches.  
Behind the glass, there was a transparent capsule containing a hundred people, no less. Those in the capsule were standing as if in a deep trance, blinking listlessly and barely understanding where they were and what was happening.

The Time Lady routinely walked to the control panel, up to her similar humanoids.

"Right, boys, till the edge, as usual", she put on special glasses and handed the Doctor the same. "It's gonna be a bit too bright"

"Never mind. I have my own"

"Never mind if you get blind or not"

The Time Lord glanced in confusion first at the capsule with people and then say the Wanderer with her workers. He was desperately trying to figure out what was going on, but a strong presentiment convinced him three was no good in this sinister ritual.

The Wanderer habitually put her hand on a large lever and pushed it. There was a sharp flash piercing the room. The people disappeared. This was in vain that the Doctor pressed himself against the glass trying to see at least one survivor.  
Only ash and scraps of burnt matter remained on the floor of the capsule.

" ** _People..._** " the Doctor muttered barely audibly.

"Alright, guys, clean job. Well, almost", the girl winced. "Turn on the ventilation and clean up the room from this crap"

"People", the Time Lord repeated louder. "What have you done with the people?!"

" _Split into atoms_. An excellent source of a colossal amount of energy. Ain't it smart? The energy released during the destruction of intermolecular connections is supplied to the entire Earth. ...Well, and my 'Wanderland' of course"

"What?!" the Doctor gritted his teeth, barely holding back his anger. "Using living people as fuel?! Is there really nothing human about you! A great substitute for gasoline, yeah. This is wrong, mean, pathetic. This is **_savage_**!"

"No need for yelling — I'm perfectly aware of what I'm doing. A hundred people per day are nothing on a planetary scale. A tiny price to pay for maintaining the whole Earth. Sure, you can go on burning gasoline, but oil and coal are exhaustible resources; while humanity is a _quickly renewable_ one. I would even say too quickly. Every day, thousands of times more people are born on the Earth that burned up at my base. Besides, not only do I solve resource problems but also deal with social issues. Overpopulation, inequality — with my regulation, the planet's GDP per capita is continuously growing. Declassed elements and criminals — my society gets cleaned from them immediately, establishing _strict discipline_. Suicide, euthanasia — so many of those who can go here voluntarily. My methods _sanitize the Earth_. I'm addition, nobody foods for the resources. Wars no longer exist here since the entire planet is under my monopoly. Each person gets _the same amount_ of energy produced here, regardless of one's income and social status"

"One hundred people a day", the Doctor dropped, exhausted by the cold indifference of his interlocutor. "They are **_alive_**!"

" ** _Were_** _alive_. And tomorrow there will be new ones. Those billions that inhabit the Earth are _also alive_ , and someone needs to take care of them. Which I actually do"

The Time Lord fell silent at a loss for words. Could it be **his Stranger**? A cruel monopolist deciding whom to live and whom to die? Yes, this was not the Stranger in the usual sense, but at least something from her should have remained.  
Something common, something nice, to which the Doctor urgently needed to get through.

" **How?** "

"What 'how'? Whatta hell do you mean? I've got no idea what you're talking about. It's not even a complete question!"

***

The Doctor comprehended that the Time Lady standing in front of him was **never the Stranger**. Yes, the same appearance and slight similarities in the biography. But might it be that something else is **_connecting_** them?  
Something in the Wanderer to reveal that very kind and awkward Stranger from another universe.

This idea took over the Doctor. He grabbed the Wanderer by the wrist and tugged her somewhere. She was taken aback, began to struggle, pulling her hand out of his unexpectedly tight grip — in vain.

"Woah, where are you dragging me?! You don't even know the layout of the building! You gonna get lost and die here of age. Let go!"

She was worried, and not at all because she was afraid of him. This was just that for the first time in many centuries everything _got out of her **total control**_.

"How dare you! I rule the whole Earth. I'm gonna call the security right now! Let go, you, Loch Ness Monster!"

The Doctor almost unmistakably found the way out.

"I hope you have an artificial atmosphere outside the building"

"Wait, so you don't even know for sure?" she took the last desperate attempt to grab the corner of the wall, but the Doctor yanked her to the exit.

The iron door slid open; the Time Lord felt not only the absence of instant death but even a light cool breeze. The Doctor closed his eyes and breathed in the fresh air. The vast Moon surface, the Earth above and the twinkling stars were much more pleasant to see that those oppressive corridors with dim light.

He looked around and caught a glimpse of something curious and wrong.

"Wait, is it the _flag of the USSR_? What is it doing here?"

"Ah, so you've noticed? I like it too. Was here long before I arrived. Since Baikonur won the space race somewhen in the 20th century. Soviet astronauts put their flag here. Though it already faded I like to watch it fluttering"

The Doctor grimaced slightly, but more important things worried him now. He desperately wished he could somehow unsee the picture of _people being burned to assertions_. The Time Lord focused on his idea — to turn the Wanderer into the Stranger.

If this is indeed the case, if the Wanderer in really just the alternative version of the Stranger, they **_must clearly have quite a lot in common_**.  
But what is the Stranger? Heated beer, 'don't ask me how', barefoot walks and screwdriver music.

"Alright, it already worked once. With _Lucy Lennon_ ", the Sunnier again dragged the girl forward trying to bring her to the lunar surface, away from this nasty iron building.

"Why the hell you pull me there?!"

"We need to get the Stranger or of you until it's too late. **_This has already worked_** and it should do so now"

"Let go! Don't you see: I'm gonna break my legs here!" the Wanderer whimpered piteously.

"Take off your shoes"

"Pardon?"

The Doctor glanced at the Wanderer's sonic screwdriver, which she was clutching with a stranglehold out of fear. The Time Lord snatched the object from her hands.

" **Take off your shoes** "

"If you're gonna kill me, I'd prefer not to die barefoot at least"

The Doctor began tinkering about the device, trying to understand how it works. Whenever the Stranger played music on it, it would come out spontaneously, casually and completely naturally. But now it took the Doctor a while to figure everything out.

The Wanderer, completely bewildered but with her head held up high, took off her lacquered black louboutins.

***

"Do you know how to make it play music?" asked the Time Lord without distracting from his puzzle.

"What? Music? It doesn't do music, you stupid piece of searching. How did you even get this weird idea?"

" **Don't ask me how** "

"Okay, I won't"

The Time Lady cruised her arms, shifting from one foot to the other from the unusual feeling of the lunar surface under her bare feet.

All last, the device did give in and a song appeared from it. It was neither a lyrical melody nor ordinary pop music to which schoolchildren dance at their discos.

The Wandered gave the Doctor a perplexed look. But this strange intruder no longer seemed a freaky nutcase or a dangerous maniac.  
She was even amused as this whole ineffably ridiculous situation resembled nothing more but just some teenage tomfoolery.

"Oh, so _you invite me to dance_?"

"Ah no, I respect myself, you know", the Doctor winced looking up at the girl.

For both, this all was just a part of one big joke that neither of them wanted to ruin.  
The Doctor gave the Wanderer a hand and she, still slightly hesitating, accepted the invitation.

What was it? Nothing special: just **_two Time Lords_** , the last of their kind, creatures from different worlds, were dancing amid lunar raters in the light of the globe above the horizon.  
In an instant, everything became so simple and cheerful, having lost the slightest meaning. Only music existed. The music from the screwdriver.

The melody faded as it came to an end.

" _Stranger..._ " the Doctor smiled gazing into the violet starry abyss of the eyes of the girl, who, with a childish fervour, was trying to recover.

"Almost. The Wanderer", suddenly her usual severe seriousness took over. She glanced at the Doctor indifferently and walked towards her shoes. "Nice waste of time but I still have work to do. After all, **destruction of the Earth** is on my agenda"

"Wh-what?" the Time Lord was taken aback.

The Wanderer strode back to her base. The Doctor rushed after.

"What did you just say? This is a joke, right? How's that?"

"Listen, you, I'm fed up with your stupid questions", the Time Lady interrupted rudely. "Yes, everything's great but you thought I should lose my head after this aimless dancing. Well, there are much more important things. Wait, lemme guess: you decided to _'disenchant'_ me so that I would immediately become _'good_ '? Eww, pathetic"

The Doctor was about to argue something but a strange sound interrupted him. A portal suddenly opened in front of them.

***

A female figure emerged from the portal.

"Wanderer! I've come to stop all this", the voice seemed so painfully familiar to the Doctor.

"Oh look who is this!" the Wanderer threw up her hands. "Rose Taylor"

"Rose Tyler", the intruder corrected.

"I don't give a damn to you and your stinky Torchwood"

" **Rose...** " the Doctor uttered barely audibly. He gazed at her with his mouth open, unable to understand a thing. At one moment it seemed to him that one of his hearts was pierced by pain and the other - filled with tenderness and joy as in those good old days.

"That's enough I've come to stop you and your incineration schemes", the blonde proclaimed belligerently.

"Note that the last fifteen times you were saying exactly the same things. And this doesn't seem to work out nicely"

"Will anybody finally explain to me what the Dalek is going on here?" the Time Lord intervened.

" ** _I am Rose Tyler from Torchwood_** , the representative of planet Earth, its defender from intergalactic threats. The main one of those is now standing in front of us", the girl glared sternly at the Wanderer. "She has settled here since I know not when and, _like a god_ , rules people and entire planets"

"And by the way quite successfully", the lady interrupted.

"She ha long been under our supervision", continued Rose, "but it's hard to expect some help from the authorities when you're fighting against those very authorities", the blonde aimed her gun at the owner of the moon base and turned to the Doctor. "Listen, mister, I don't know who you are, and to tell the truth I don't really care. But you'd better get out of here quickly so that you wouldn't get hurt. She's gonna pay for all those who have been killed by her hands"

"You say it just as if this Torchwood of yours ain't maintained by the energy I am generating. As if you ain't use it yourself. I work here like damned, without any breaks of days off! _You think it's that easy to run the entire planet and supply for eight billion dummies who keep sending someone to kill me?!_ There are no wars on Earth — thanks to **me** ; economic growth — thanks to **me** ; equality in rights and resources — thanks to **ME** "

"If you really were that innocent, there would be no need in hiding on the Moon and surrounding yourself with guards, equipping each portal with an instant self-destruction system"

"And yet, you still burst in just like that, to my private territory, without even bringing your cute boy with you. Ah, sneakers, a suit, 'Allons-y'... For that, I would know French even better than some _Marie Antoinette_ "

The Doctor understood immediately which 'boy' she was talking about. He perfectly remembered his _metacrisis version_ , at the mention of which he winced. It was albeit very worthy, but still a substitute.

"Sorry to interrupt, by the way", he interfered changing the subject, "but this Wanderwoman is about to blow up the Earth. Just in case you didn't know"

"What? Is that true?! You can't!" blurted out the blonde.

"Oh yes, I can. But a bit later. And now, if you patron me, I've got some work to do", replied the Wanderer.

"You're not going anywhere", Rose pointed a weapon at her back. "You... You... Went would one even destroy the planet which is already at the disposal and under full control?"

The Wanderer casually turned her head without even looking at Rose Tyler.

"My girl, everything in this world must be paid for, one way or another. After all, some things are worth a good risk, and you do know it"

Rose pressed her lips together more tightly and the Wanderer realised she had found the right point.

"You know, I ain't doing this for fun either. I've got a goal: _I want to move on_. This is the whole meaning of my life — _as well as yours_ — to prove to myself that I deserve more. I'm gonna get through to the **parallel world** , to where no vehicle and no device can transport. I really need to get there, but nothing happens just like that, by lucky chance. For such massive transportation, an incredible amount of energy is required. Which I can only obtain by carrying out the aforementioned plan"

"But you **_can't_** deprive innocent people of life for the sake of self-interest"

The Doctor was _proud_ of Rose Tyler he saw in front of him now.  
He made sure that she indeed was a worthy defender of the Earth and had not changed at all.

However, Rose herself with every second, every please of the Wanderer, was losing her confidence.

"Rose", continued the Time Lady, "as far as I remember, you need to get there yourself. You're from that very parallel world, right? Must be so hard being that far from home, I see. Besides...", she paused. " **You've got someone there** , right?"

Rose and the Doctor both shuddered at these words. Both knew who she was talking about.

"You still _long to go there **to find him**_ , don't you? But nobody can help you. _Nobody **except me**_ "

***

Thousands of thoughts flashed through life blonde's head; she was no longer as determined as in the beginning.

Rode Tyler had long been looking for a way to get back into her world. And although here she had a full family, an interesting job and even her own metacrisis Doctor, she still longed to go there. She was missing something: perhaps, the same strange and get so familiar Gallifreyan, whoever he was now.

" ** _Doctor..._** " Rose muttered barely audibly.

The Wanderer felt that she was one step closer to victory. This delay gave her some time to start typing on her sonic screwdriver.

"Rose!" the Doctor ran to the blonde, grabbed her by the shoulders and looked in her eyes. "Don't even try to listen to this mental. Just think: for whom are you ready to go with her? Are you really going to sacrifice 8 billion lives for him? _Is he worth it?_ "

" _Yes_ ", the girl nodded. Tears twinkled in her eyes. "But I can't hurt other people. **_He definitely wouldn't want this_** "  
  


"So heroic that imma be sick", the Wanderer interrupted. Rose Tyler pointed the weapon at her with the same confidence. "Or, this is already unnecessary", the Time Lady twisted the Sonic in her hands. "Looks like I already managed to **start the final countdown** for the destruction of the Earth. And — oh, what a shame — only I know the deactivation algorithm. Seems like killing me now is the most pointless option"

"We could try to knock the bomb out from the Earth, I can contact with Torchwood", suggested Rose, consulting with the Doctor.

"So sad", the Wanderer retorted, "but there are too many spots of annihilation scattered all over the planet. You won't even have enough time to find all of them. Oh, and let's do without physical assault", she added leaving, "You know how many guards I have here? Let's not spoil each other's last minutes of the Earth"

"Seems that the only weapon we can use is _ourselves_ ", the Doctor looked up and saw so kind, dear and sad eyes of Rose.  
  


" **Stranger!** " he shouted to the leaving Time Lady.

"Now come on, how many more times?! I am the **Wanderer**!"

" _I know_ ", the Doctor replied unwaveringly, "This was my problem: you weren't her at all and you've never been. But I was so reluctant to admit this. You are the Wanderer and I should speak to you as with the Wanderer. And before you make the greatest mistake I have a few words for you"

The girl raised her eyebrows contemptuously but she couldn't hide the curiosity in her look.

"If it comes to that", the Time Lord began, "I am also from there, from another world, where you are so desperately urging. Wanna know how I got here? _Don't ask me how_. But in that other universe, there also is a version of you. Her name is the Stranger and she is _my friend_. And she's not like you at all. She never tries to be powerful, never makes grandiose plans, never sets a price for everything. She's neither good nor bad — just so human. She tries to be important and useful, although rarely does she admit this. Yes, she makes mistakes, does wrong, gets confused and being dishonest even with herself. But she tries so hard to be right. She is **_the Stranger_**. And she is **_magnificent_**. And I do believe — I really want to believe — that she has something of you and you have something of her"

The Wanderer, without blinking, was unexpectedly fascinatedly listening to the Doctor's story, not taking her cosmic eyes from him.

"Rose, will you help?" he turned to the blonde and whispered: " _I need you_ "

The girl nodded and thought a bit.

"Stranger, she... I knew her for a short time. But somehow from the very first meeting, I felt that there was something else in her, except her awkward absurdity. For an alien, she was too... Human?" Rose smiled sadly, "She was unbelievably strong though she would always hide and never admit her heroic deeds. But what surprised me the most was something else: the Doctor. He and the Stranger seemed to be very close but for some reason, neither of them wanted to admit this", the girl thought a little more and added: "Probably, the Stranger is called like this not because of her roams but simply because she is indeed **_strange_**. And I seem to even miss her. Maybe because you, Wanderer, wear her face. And this is the only thing you can really be proud of"

"We can argue eternally whether it is _right_ or _wrong_ to burn people", the Doctor resumed, "But we can't decide the fate of billions. You bloody can't. Then what is all this about? All these atomic bombs and parallel universes, hm? We are not the ones to make rules. We do not decide that a portal to another world is more important and valuable than these lives. In your language, this is not your monopoly but a free market, a perfect competition where the price is formed beyond your control and you cannot affect it. You can show off and pretend to be the most influential here but this changes nothing. Because you are not the main one here. Just like any of us"

***

The Wanderer was standing confused and bewildered although she was desperately trying to hide it. All that she had heard didn't convert her instantly, of course, but for some reason, she changed her plans abruptly.

"Actually, you know, I still have some stuff to do in this universe"

The Doctor spotted this moment of slight hesitation not to miss. He came closer to her, frowning.

"Good reasoning. Correct. Now tell me: how to turn off this deadly weapon?"

"Young man, step two meters away from me. At my base, nothing is as simple so that some Rose Taylor wouldn't mess up all my plans without me knowing it. There is surely a red button here — I love read buttons. But the fact is that turning off the annihilation on Earth is gonna trigger the self-destruction mechanism here, on my base. The Moon will remain intact but my 'Wanderland' will be gone forever. This is so in case someone more serious would come after me"

"So one can save the Earth and blow up your base simultaneously?" the Doctor grinned, "Sounds too perfect"

"Exactly. That's why the mechanism can be started only manually. That is, whoever chooses to, must stay here and blow up along with all my buildings"

There came a tense silence but no time was to waste.

" _I'll go_ ", Rose sighed.

"What?!" the Time Lord blurted out.

"I will go. _The Doctor would do the same_ , I know. And those who stayed with me in this universe will also understand"

"No, I forbid you"

"You cannot. I have a planet to protect"

"That's why you stay alive. They need you and will need you for a long time. You are **Rose Tyler, defender of the Earth**. Besides, your metacrisis Doctor has only one heart which couldn't baste such a loss"

Rose looked into his eyes. The Time Lord smiled sadly.

"I'll go. Dying outside your own universe isn't so scary", the Doctor went up to the Wanderer and whispered barely audibly: "There is _regeneration_ on my side"

"There's _nothing_ on your side. You'll be simply blown into dust and there will be _nothing_ to regenerate. Moreover, even if so, all life support systems will disappear along with the base. The Moon will become _not habitable once more_ "

"It is worth billions of lives"

"Something tells me that **much more would die without you** "

The Time Lady crossed her arms and frowned.

"Okay, this definitely wasn't included in my plans for this evening but the countdown is coming to the end", she glanced at her iron building, so native already. The decision was made with vivid difficulty. "Rose, use your portal and get out of here at last. You, young man, go through the frame as came here", giving the orders the Wanderer paced to the room.

The Doctor wanted to stop her.  
He realised that **_once more_** _he was sending his Stranger_ (albeit not quite her) _**to death**_.  
But the Wanderer was unshakable.

"Stop right now! You shouldn't..." he could not bear watching losing her again.

"You are very inconsistent with yourself. Get out!" the Time Lady literally pushed him into the portal.

On her way to a small compartment with a dim light and the bright red button, she made a final announcement over the speaker in her screwdriver:

"Attention all the workers of the base! A state of emergency is declared! Everyone urgently evacuate to Earth using escape pods! There's not so much time left — so move, get out. You are free now"

The humanoids, all as one, followed the directions fulfilling their only purpose.

Leaning over that notorious red button the girl took a deep breath.

"Something epic in the end. _'To the world'_?"

**And the button was pressed.**

***

From the Earth, one could observe the most developed base in the nearest five galaxies being destroyed.

No sooner had the Doctor fell out of the portal, than he raised his head into the sky and fixed his stare at the Moon.

"You'd better step back to avoid the collateral explosion wave", Rose dragged him aside.

"I didn't manage to do it", he muttered in a hoarse voice, " **Again.** It's like I was never meant to save the dear ones"

Rose hugged him almost like in those good old days.

"Don't be so hard on yourself. You _try to do the right thing_ and this is enough"

At that moment, all over the planet, the portal frames were collapsing one by one closing the last path to the abandoned Moon.

The final explosion thundered, and from the last portal, at which Doctor and Rose were standing, flame and clouds of burning gas burst out.  
And in this blazing fire, one could barely distinguish... **the Wanderer**.

She came right out of the blaze _unharmed_ and _intact_. The shockwave was left behind, outside the collapsing frame without even knocking the girl down.  
Not a single scorch, not a bruise, not a slightest scratch was left on her body.

When all that was left of the explosion was a resounding echo and whispering in the gathered crowd of earthly onlookers, the Wanderer confidently uttered:

"Rule one: never turn around to the explosion behind. Rule two: _always set the bargain price_. Rule three..." she paused for a moment, " ** _Don't ask me how_** "

"But... But you..." Rose blinked uncomprehendingly.

"Are you surprised? A nice deal I had about two thousand years ago. I traded my time and space machine for absolute physical invulnerability. Regeneration is cool but unstable and limited. I guess, the **TARDIS was worth it** "

"Well then, what then all this drama was about?! I almost went there myself to perish! Since you're so _invulnerable_ , why didn't you go there straight away?"

"My recent home could become a jail for me. Think: all portals automatically collapsed. I would easily get captured on the inhabited Moon workout any means of communication to report that I'm still alive. _Locked for a life sentence_. And with my immortality I don't even know which is worse"

***

And this is how the story about the incineration of the Earth ended; now it was time to say goodbye.

"So, we have actually worried quite well together", casually said the Doctor, admiring Rose's smile.

" _We could be a great team_ ", she agreed.

" ** _Or maybe we even used to be once_** "

"Listen, you said you also were from..."

"I said many things", the Time Lord interrupted, "But drums that it's time for you to come back to Torchwood. Someone is waiting for you there"

The girl nodded. She was going to add something else, peering at the profile of this surprisingly familiar unknown man.  
But suddenly having changed her mind she turned away and disappeared into the portal.

"Pathetic", the Wanderer remarked calmly and even in a kind of warm tone.

"Says you. Your base is destroyed and I don't think Torchwood won't tale advantage of your temporary weakness"

"Right. But this is minor trouble. I've been here for quite a while. Maybe, now it's just the time for the _Wanderer to start wandering_ around. Who knows — might happen that one day I _find_ this **_Stranger_** of yours somewhere. Although the next chance to get through into the parallel universe will obviously occur not even in this century but imma to come up with something"

"Let it be something not involving burning people"

The Doctor suddenly felt proud of his new old friend and what she had become in the end.  
He walked slowly towards his TARDIS.

"You know", began the Time Lord and paused, "unlike you, I haven't sold my time machine or traded it for anything"

The Wanderer raised her eyebrow in an expression of interest. The Doctor didn't see it but he knew for sure.

"You've been examining leaps between the worlds. I know that the TARDIS cannot enter a parallel universe and this is a fact. However, somehow _I appear to have ended up here_. So if you can help me to smash the logic of time, space and worlds — **welcome aboard** "

"So you're trying to put conditions on me?" remarked the Wanderer indignantly and after a short silence added in a softer manner: "Well... Are we going or not? I've got no idea where you parked it"

The TARDIS was obediently waiting for the Doctor and was clearly unhappy with the new passenger.

"Wow, it's even uglier on the inside"

"An unusual remark. However, no one naturally cares for your opinion", replied the Doctor.

The Wanderer went up to the console and, no longer in a businesslike way but with the air of a specialist, peered at the screens and studied the panels.

"Now the natural barrier between two worlds is so thin that one can leap over it. So rare an occasion. But this still requires an immense amount of energy"

"But we do have a chance, don't we?" clarified the Time Lord.

"Very little. We can try to tune in to residual energy from the explosion of my 'Wanderland' ", the girl looked up from the console and noticed the gambling look of her interlocutor, "Just think: I'm on board with a _real psychopath_. What an interesting end of the working day"


End file.
